Dark
by Is That Rhetorical
Summary: She hated it for when it surrounded her she saw herself all to clearly. He loved it for when it embraced him he no longer had to live with himself and the things he saw. But in the end, we're all afraid of the dark. OCs, rated for safety.
1. Prologue

**Another fandom... I'm never going to get around to finishing Alphabet, am I?**

**Anyway, thanks for clicking. As you can probably tell, I'm not really supposed to be writing for this fandom, but being an author, I can't really help the ideas that my brain turns out, and when I happen to find them fairly decent, they tend to end up in a Word document and then maybe posted here.**

**(Insert casual transition of your choice here), this first chapter is just a little bit of an introduction to my current crusade, attempting to amend the views of those critics who are of the opinion that all stories containing OCs are automatically crap. Wish me luck, and please fuel the fire of the cause by leaving many reviews containing constructive criticism and mayhaps even a bit of praise.**

**I own nothing of D. Gray Man besides crappily translated versions of the first two tankobon. **

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

Long after the funeral ended, a single form still blocked the tombstone from the Earl's view. His ever present grin widened. This was a good one.

The soul the pitiful broker had given away was Jessica Evans, a young single mother, condemned by the small village she lived in for having a child out of wedlock. Although she had no resentment toward her daughter, Jessica was quickly dying of tuberculosis, the broker had said only several days ago. The child, who had no friends in the town but was still the happiest girl you could find when Jessica was well, would surely jump at a chance to bring her mother back. An Akuma like Jessica would quickly progress to a Level 2, with all that hate for the village for isolating it in life, and hate for the world by extension. Those were the Earl's favorite.

"What a horrible thing," he said with false sympathy as he came upon the girl. She jumped at the sound and pivoted on her knees to face him. She was about twelve years old, he would guess, although small in stature like her mother, so it was difficult to tell. He noticed a small cross in her hands. They were Christian. A small hindrance, no more. Perhaps it could even be turned on her. "It must be a cruel God that allows tragedy like this in his world, wouldn't you say?"

The girl hid her eyes and squeezed the cross. Though she would not admit it, she had been thinking about the same thing. But still… "I… I must believe that He will not abandon me… that He will help me through this most trying time, sir."

A text book reply, thought the Earl. Coddling her a bit (after all, flattery got you everywhere), he said, "Such a patient child, to be willing to wait for a God who will bring you nothing but suffering. I, however, can help you now." He stepped aside and showed her the Akuma creating skeleton. "This artificial body can bring back your mother to you. All it requires is for you to call to her from the bottom of your heart."

He glanced at her face for the look of hope he'd seen a million times if he'd seen it once, the gratitude of being promised their loved one back from the dead. It was strangely absent. Puzzling.

The girl's heart had nearly stopped with excitement when she'd first heard him, but in the same instant she remembered all the Sunday school lessons, the morals that lied beneath them all. "Th-That is forbidden. My mother's death… that is God's will. To try and break it… I can't believe that would come without a price." She sniffed, and choked on her next words. "I'm sorry, Mother. I can't do it. I just can't. I miss you so much already, but I can't. You'd want to be brought back, wouldn't you?"

She wrestled with herself, trying to find the answer her beloved mother and her God could agree upon. She continued crying when it finally came.

"I am not a witch. I will not make a contract with the devil." She continued to ramble on, more to herself, to assure her that she was doing what was righteous. "He always comes like this, sympathetic, in your time of need, to turn you. I will not betray God. I love God. I love Him, I love Him, I love God…" she repeated, sobbing all the while.

The Earl sighed. So that pesky religion fueled this girl's iron will. Nuts like her were so troublesome. If only he'd know she was a devout before he'd shown her the skeleton… no matter.

He closed Lero and lifted the umbrella above his head. With such a weak girl, there was no need to turn it into an actual weapon; she was dying already. A small head wound would be enough to kill her.

"Die," he said, still smiling, as he brought Lero down.

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

"Master... Master!"

"What is it?"

"Look!" A young boy no older than eleven approached the outdoor seating of the bar/restaurant with a girl about his age cradled in his arms. Blood ran freely down her face and chin, partially and clumsily stemmed with a handkerchief. "She was in the cemetery!"

"So why is it she's here now, idiot aprentice?" The boy's face, which had been almost excited at his discovery, fell and slowly took on a look of terror. "It wouldn't be because you went into the cemetery when I explicitly told you to stay on this street and out of trouble, would it?" The man slammed his glass down on the table and a spider web of cracks spread from the bottom.

Allen Walker nearly dropped the girl in the process of raising his hands above his head to shield the two of them from Cross Marian's wrath. Words tumbled out in long bursts as he tried to explain. "I'm sorry! I couldn't help it! I thought I saw the Millennium Earl there, so I went to look and there was a girl and she was bleeding and I thought I had to help her and I tried to stop the bleeding and I thought I should bring her here! Don't kill me, Master! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, don't kill me, I'm sorry…"

At this new piece of information, Cross raised his visible eyebrow in what Allen hoped was interest. "Is she alive?"

"Yes," Allen said. He was still shielding himself, just in case.

"Is she an Akuma?"

"No. Not an Akuma."

"Let's take a look them."

Allen finally lowered his arms with relief. He wasn't going to die today. Probably.

Slowly, Cross left his chair and examined her. She could have been pretty if not for the thinness of her face, and the bloodstains that ran down her face and through her light brown, braided hair. There didn't seem to be anything unusual about her, but the fact that Allen had seen the Millennium Earl enter the otherwise empty graveyard meant…

"Two children to have survived an encounter with the Earl in less than a year," he said quietly. "I must be very lucky." He then proceeded to shake her roughly.

"Master! Stop that! You're going to hurt her! See!" Allen shouted as small droplets of blood from the head wound scattered around them.

"Please. That didn't hurt her. She's unconscious."

"No she's not! Not anymore!" True enough, she was stirring slightly and opening her eyes.

"Then it worked."

He put his hand on her head and tilted it so she looked at him. She looked confused and dizzy with unfocused eyes. "What is your name, child?"

"My… name...?" she asked as though in a trance. "What's that?"

Cross sighed. Amnesia. Still, he said, "What you're called. When people speak to you, what do they call you?"

"I… I don't know… why don't I know?" Her chest heaved in panic and tears started pouring down her face as she realized she was unable to answer the simplest of questions. "Why don't I know?"

"Master… she hit her head…" Allen started to say. It took him a moment to continue over the lump forming in his throat. To not remember anything, he thought. To not remember Mana… "Maybe… maybe it's just temporary."

"Perhaps…" He paused. "Stop crying, girl." She nodded and hugged her knees. "Do we have any clues, idiot apprentice?"

"Well… she was by a grave that said Jessica Evans. If the Earl came, then he probably asked her if she wanted to bring her back… but I don't know."

"Fine, we'll start with that." He looked at the girl tears still wet one her cheeks. "Did you know someone named Jessica Evans? Was she your mother?"

She stared at the ground and blinked remnant tears from her eyes, racking her brain. "Mother…a mother…I think I know that word… but… I don't have a mother…"

Cross said almost to himself, "Not anymore you don't." Then after a brief pause, he snapped, "Allen!"

The boy jumped and asked warily, "What…?" He knew that tone…

"What's a common name? Anything you can think of. Hurry up!" he said when the response didn't come right away.

"Uh….uh…uh… Grace! Grace!"

"All right. Did you hear that, girl? That's your name now. Grace Evans."

Grace just stared at him, puzzled.

Allen's face fell. "Master, if you'd told me that was going to be her name I wouldn't have picked something like "Grace". It's too plain…"

"Idiot apprentice. We want her name to be plain. She's coming with us. We'll drop her with a church somewhere."

"Really?" This time it came not from Allen, but Grace. Her face was suddenly lit up and excited. The sudden swing of emotion reminded Allen of an angry toddler who'd just been given candy. "That'll be fun, right? Going… where? Where are we going? What church?"

"Good question…"

Allen laughed nervously and scratched his head with his gloved hand. "Master doesn't know where he's going very often. But it always turns out to be some horrible…"

"What was that, Allen?"

"Nothing! Nothing…"

"Let's go," Cross said shortly. He stood up, and Allen automatically followed. Grace, doing her best to fit in, stood too, a little too fast.

"Master… Master!" Allen called to Cross, who was already halfway down the street. He could move when he wanted to. Cross turned to look at his apprentice as he supported Grace. "She fainted!"

Perhaps that girl was going to be more trouble than she was worth, even for only a few days… Cross glanced at Timcanpy as the golem hovered around his head. "Let's see… Allen, you carry her."

"Wha…!" He stopped before it could even become a proper protest. At least his master wasn't abandoning her now that she was unconscious… more than he could say regarding himself.

She was surprisingly light, even considering her small stature. Despite his year of rigorous self training, Allen had expected to have at least a little bit of difficulty carrying her. "So easy…" he commented to himself.

Needless to say, after several hours of walking, when Cross was finally satisfied with the distance they'd covered, Allen's arms were limp at his sides as he swore, "Never again!"


	2. Chapter 1

**Two at once. Because I can.**

**My status of ownership has not changed since three minutes ago.**

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

In the midst of the hum of the cafeteria at the Black Orders headquarters, the conversation that had been going on all day manifested itself again as a simple question between friends. "Did you hear, Grace? There's a new Exorcist."

Grace Evans put down her mug of hot chocolate and smiled with a hint of amusement in her blue eyes. "That isn't news, Máté. Everyone heard about him fighting with Kanda last night."

"I know that," Máté Varga, a Hungarian Finder, said with a large grin on his childish face. It was taking all of his willpower not to burst out laughing or tell the secret just yet. He had to keep it just a little longer, but he'd never been very good keeping secrets. "But I thought you might be interested in a little fact I picked up."

Grace looked away nonchalantly and resumed eating. "Oh really? What's that?"

"Komui said he's that student General Cross had when he dumped you with the Order."

She nearly choked on her porridge, making Máté grin. She recovered behind her napkin in an attempt to remain dignified. "That's ridiculous, Máté. You're not in direct contact with the Supervisor. You're just making that up."

Máté fidgeted, caught in his fib. "Okay, so maybe _I_ didn't hear it from Komui," he confessed guiltily, "but Johnny did. And Johnny told Théo, and Théo told me. And the message was definitely that the new Exorcist was General Cross's apprentice. I'm not lying, I swear!" he said with his hands up when she rolled her eyes playfully.

"Máté, you know you can't rely on things like that when they go through so many sources like that. Between Johnny and Théo, it might have been General Kloud who sent the apprentice." She held up two fingers and made a small crossing motion to show the possible transition from "Kloud" to "Cross".

Máté sighed and said with a stubborn frown, "Maybe."

That made Grace laugh. "What?" Máté asked, slightly embarrassed.

She covered her mouth and smiled again, this time with her eyes. "You're such a child, Máté."

He snorted. "Well, yeah. I'm only 13." Defeated by his own logic, he sat down at the table before realizing he hadn't gotten any breakfast. "Stupid, stupid, stupid," he muttered dejectedly. Grace laughed again, which cheered him up slightly.

Máté got in the line to order, just behind an old man in a vest, or so he thought. The white hair made the person look old from the back, but when he turned, Máté saw that he had youthful features, and was about his age. He hadn't seen the boy around here before; perhaps he was a transfer from some other branch.

A tray slid out of the slot, bearing a helping of lasagna and a potato. A slightly odd choice for breakfast, Máté thought, although not comparable to the Exorcist Kanda's constant soba eating. The white haired kid took a bite with a smile, but didn't move.

Slightly annoyed and his speck of patience growing thin, Máté said, "Hey, fehér fej (1). You got your food, now move so I can order." Then another tray slid out, on this one curry and tofu.

Máté was about to ask just how much he'd ordered, since he still showed no signs of leaving, but an argument broken out across the room distracted both of them.

"What did you say?!" A tall Finder called Buzz was standing and leaning across his table. "You wanna say that again?!"

One persons warning to calm down was blatantly ignored.

"Be quiet," said a recognizable, stoic voice. "My meal tastes bad when you talk about dead people."

Since she was sitting nearby, Grace tried to keep things from escalating. "Kanda," she said respectfully, although she almost wanted to cry. "Alexei was a good friend of mine too… of everyone's. Couldn't you please try not to be so insensitive?"

He glanced down the table at her barely more than out of the corner of his eye. "No."

This enraged Buzz further. "That's how you show respect for your comrades?! We Finders risk our lives to support you… and you're saying it makes your meal taste bad?!"

He took a heated swing at Kanda's head, which was, of course, dodged without hesitation. Máté put a hand to his forehead and muttered, "Ostoba (2) Buzz…" In an instant, the situation was reversed: Buzz standing helplessly with Kanda's head around his throat.

"Support us?" Kanda said mockingly. "That's all you can do. You're the ones who weren't chosen to carry the innocence."

Buzz gasped for air, but Kanda's grip was relentless. "If you want to live, leave now. Your life is insignificant; you can be replaced at any time."

Someone's hand dared to close around Kanda's, and they dared tell him to stop.

"I'm sorry to interrupt when I have nothing to do with this, but I don't think this is the right way to resolve this," the white haired boy said with surprising authority.

Kanda looked at him, cold annoyance burning.

"Back off, moyashi (3)."

He jerked slightly in surprise. _Bean sprout…?_ "I'm Allen!" he said defiantly.

Grace almost fell over. The white hair, the scar under his left eye, although she couldn't see above it for his hair in the way, the red left hand, and now the name… Máté had been right. It was him.

Kanda chuckled darkly. "If you live a month, I'll remember your name. Many people die here, like these Finders."

The sound from Allen clenching tighter was almost audible. "As I said, that's a horrible thing to say."

"You're going to die soon." Kanda was full out glaring now. "I hate people like you."

"Thank you," he said sarcastically.

Sparks flew between the two until River Wenham called to them, saying they had a mission.

Allen sat down with his huge meal that had been completed during the tension. Grace took the chance to confront him.

"Allen?" she said when she'd moved in front of him, without him noticing as he stuffed his face. "Allen Walker?"

He looked up, surprised that anyone outside the science department and Lenalee knew his full name, and got an even bigger surprise. "G-Grace!" Lost for words, he said, "Um… hi…"

She pulled at a strand of her hair nervously. "You made it."

"Yeah…" he said slowly. And then he remembered: River had said ten minutes…

Grace laughed as Allen, armed with a fork in each hand, shoved food into his mouth, and one dish after another disappeared. She had vague memories of him doing that, every time he visited the church.

"Record time!" she sang and clapped her hands, after only seven minutes. Then she opened her eyes and became slightly concerned. "You look like you might explode."

He leaned back in his seat with a hand on his belly. "I think I might too…"

"Well, you still have three minutes." She walked around to his side of the table and put an arm around him. "I'm glad your Master let you come."

"Me too," he said. He straightened up a little, already recovering, and she withdrew her hand to sit on it. "But, Grace…"

_Here it comes_, she thought.

"Are you an Exorcist now? Did a piece of that Innocence match with you?"

She gave him the best smile she could, but it still looked sad. "No."

His hopeful look dissolved. "That's why I'm wearing white," she continued, pulling at her long skirt. "But don't worry. There's always someone on a mission to retrieve Innocence, and most of the time they come back with it. Maybe the piece you get this time will be my match.

"But in the meantime, I can still help you. I'm a Finder after all." A glance at the grandfather clock told her it was the end of their long overdue bonding. "You should go to Komui's office now. We can talk after your briefing," she said with her constant smile.

Allen gave her a solute and hurried out of the cafeteria. She was chuckling as Máté came up to her new spot with a tray.

"I told you. You do know him," he said. He was not as smug as he would normally be. Jealousy tainted his victory.

"Yeah. You were right, Máté." Her gaze was as distant as her voice, following Allen though he was long gone.

Máté scowled and took a bite of the porridge he'd gotten to mirror Grace, even though he wasn't particularly fond of it. "He's too young for you," he said.

That made Grace laugh, and Máté thought he might have cleared up the problem once and for all. How wrong he was…

"Don't worry. I don't think of him that way. I've only seen him a few times, but… I guess he's like a brother I can look up to. A big brother… even though I'm older than him, he's so much more mature than I am." She giggled. "That's sort of funny, isn't it?"

It was a very good thing she decided to leave the table at that moment. She had the good fortune of missing the heartbroken look on Máté's face.

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

"Italy…" Grace said to herself, thinking hard about all the missions she and her friends had been on recently. She and Allen walked the corridors down to the port beneath the building with no time to stop along the way. Immediate departure was troublesome, as always. "That must be the Ghost of Martel."

"Ghost…" Allen said, slightly incredulous.

She nodded. "Aleksandr was on the original scouting mission, so I know a little bit about it."

"Do you know the people there now?"

Another nod. "There's Ivan, Lewis, Kristian, Joshua, Conor and… Matteo! They're all our age, and there's someone older with them…"

"Why are they all guys?" Allen asked softly. He was sweating at the list. What had happened to Grace these months since he'd last seen her?

"Pervert," she said, tucking her hands into the folds of her skirt in embarrassment. "There aren't that many girls at headquarters, and I need to have people to talk to, right? Besides, we Finders go on missions in big groups for longer periods of time. When you spend a few months at a time with people, you get to know them."

"A-A few months…" Just the thought of spending any significant amount of time with Kanda made Allen nervous, but months… that was out of the question.

Grace giggled when she saw the look of horror on his face. "Don't worry! We do all the hard work, so the Exorcists missions only last a few days."

They reached the end of the spiral staircase, near the port out of headquarters. "I'll see you when you get back," Grace said.

They stood looking at one another for a few seconds and Allen smiled. "I'm taller than you now."

She looked at him, then down at her own body in disbelief.

"When did that happen? You can't be taller than me; it's not allowed!"

Allen laughed. "Maybe you didn't get any taller here, but you got a sense of humor." He put his arms around her and encouraged her to do the same. She did.

"If only"s flew through her thoughts as Grace held him close. If only she'd known he'd been at headquarters last night, to have more than a few minutes here and there to catch up on the past year and a half since she'd last seen him. If only Komui hadn't decided to be so inconsiderate and assign Allen to a mission the moment he became an official Exorcist. If only she wasn't scheduled to leave on a mission of her own the next day. "If only, if only," she said quietly. "I'll see you soon, Allen."

"Yeah."

She let him go, and watched him through the door. At the top of the staircase, Máté watched through angry tears.

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

Footnotes:

Fehér fej (1)- Hungarian; lit. white head

Ostoba (2)- Hungarian; stupid, idiot

Moyashi (3)- We all know what this is ^_^ But I can't be sure about the romaji, as the translator only does the katakana. Let me know if it's wrong please.

A further note about Máté and his Hungarian:

I don't speak Hungarian myself (as anyone who does has probably already figured out), but I'm doing my best to make this as authentic as possible, so Hungarians will speak a little Hungarian, Russians will speak a little Russian and so on. However, I'm relying on an online dictionary's imperfect translation, one word at a time in most cases, so if anyone lucky enough to know more languages than I do would like to help me out with any of the ones you see throughout the course of this fic, particularly with grammar and syntax, it would be very much appreciated. In highest demand right now are Hungarian and French, so please let me know if you can help. Thanks everyone!


	3. Chapter 2

**Thanks to 0Infinity0 and Pamela Dracula for reviewing last chapter; it was motivation for me to work on this a bit.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own any official content of this fandom, since fanfiction hates the title of the series. That is all.**

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

The day after Allen's arrival was much like any other day that Grace left for a mission, but considerably lonelier. How long, she wondered vaguely, would it be before she got to see him again? It had been bearable for a year and a half, or three years if you wanted to disregard him popping up with his master on occasion, because his location was a complete mystery. Uncertainty had been better for her; dare she say she'd almost forgotten about him while she was caught up with her daily life. Having him so close, but now just out of her reach was worse than wondering if he was alive.

Knowing she would cry if she thought about Allen again, Grace put him out of mind to finish dressing.

As she zipped up her poorly fitting white Finder's uniform, what Kanda had said the day before rang in her head and something caught in her throat. Lenalee had a modified version of the Exorcist uniform, and while it probably had more to do with her brother being the Supervisor, it was still proof that it was expected she would be around for a while to carry out her duties. Though Grace was not the only female Finder, no one had bothered to make the white coats any better suited for women.

She crossed the brief distance from the drawers she and her currently absent roommate kept their few belongings in to the wash basin and mirror. She looked at herself and smiled at the memories Allen's arrival had dredged up, those of her looking horrible from her near starvation just before he and General Cross had found her and taken her to a minuscule branch of the Order residing in a church. But her face still wasn't entirely free of the gauntness from her early teens. The kilograms she'd gained since joining the Order had made her look more healthy, but there was the certain air that any Finder who'd been with the order for more than a year had without a doubt, the kind that came from watching a dozen comrades die before you, only to hear about scores more when you returned. She shook her head, partially to get it to dry, partially to clear it of the unpleasant thoughts and the word "replaceable".

She brushed her hair next, trying with no avail to get it to straighten. She had always like the waviness and frizz of it, the way it hung around her when she let it down, but it was troublesome to braid, and any other style did nothing to keep it out of her face. Nevertheless, she smiled as she packed her hair ribbon instead of using it. Ethan would like to see her hair down.

As expected, the bubbly French-Canadian greeted her with a wide grin outside Komui's office. "Hello, my ange (1)!"

Grace blushed at the brunettes comment, though not so much from embarrassment. "Ethan!"

He pouted playfully. "If you don't want to be my ange, you shouldn't wear your hair down." His hand traced over her cheek and into her hair. "When it's down, you look too cute to be anything but an angel." Then he backed away and put a hand on his chin thoughtfully. "Or maybe a little girl… Yes, I like that better. My petit fille (2). You're short enough anyway."

It was Grace's turn to frown. "Not you too!"

"Me too?" he asked.

"Allen told me I was short yesterday!"

"… Well… you are just 149 cm (3)… that's not a lot."

"Shut up…"

"Grace!"

She turned to respond to her name. Just down the hall was a very flushed Máté, in his Finder's uniform, looking at her with a combination of surprise and hurt. "You… you always tell me not to say that… it hurts people's feelings…"

She covered her mouth with both hands. "Sorry, Máté. I didn't know you were there…" she said through her fingers.

"So it's okay when I'm not around?! I didn't know you were a hypocrite, Grace," he half shouted, on the verge of tears.

"No." As she'd done many times before in her duty as his foster sister, Grace put her arms around Máté. "I'm sorry, Kicsi Testvér (4)," she whispered, using his nickname for himself. "I slipped."

But she wouldn't have if she hadn't been around Ethan, he knew. The nineteen year old was newer to the Order than he and Grace were, only having arrived nine months ago, but he and Grace had become fast friends. While Máté was friendly enough to Ethan in public, especially in front of Grace, he secretly hated him for stealing her. He had been her first friend, damn it, when she'd come from the church alone and mentally still a toddler, and not out of pity for his age either. She was his!

"You pronounced it wrong," he said instead of the malicious thoughts against Ethan, and hugged back. "Stress on the "ér"."

He could hear Ethan laughing nearby. "If you two are siblings, what does that make me?"

The perverted neighbor who hits on my sister, Máté thought. He buried his nose in Grace's hair and pretended he hadn't heard.

"How about a cousin?" Grace asked aloud.

Ethan put his hand on his chin and then threw his arms up. "Cousin… sure, why not! It means I can be a part of the group hugs, right?"

Grace giggled and lifted her arm to welcome him in. "Of course!"

Máté stiffened as Ethan put an arm around him. Even though it would have helped considerably with his façade as Ethan's friend, Máté refused to hug him back, keeping both arms securely around Grace.

"Could you be a little less obvious?" said a quiet voice. A young Finder stood a few meters away from them -- he'd approached without making a sound -- with his arms folded and a large backpack sitting on the floor at his feet. His blond hair was pulled back into a low ponytail and he had a slightly disgusted look behind circular glasses. "Stupid love triangles make me sick."

Máté broke away from Grace and growled, looking like a wild animal. "Who do you think you are...?"

The tall teenager in the door was unfazed as Máté stomped toward him. "You're too young for her. You'd be better off trying to date the Supervisors sister," he said and pointed through the door to the lump that was Komui sleeping atop the stacks of paper that covered his desk. "You're almost fourteen, right? That wouldn't be too weird, though I think she's got a crush on that Japanese Exorcist."

"Answer the question!"

"I _think_ that I'm the reason you're going on this mission," he said with a raised eyebrow. Then he pointed to Grace. "I would have thought _you'd_ know who I am; don't you make it your business to know that of others?"

Grace flushed furiously at her slight tendency to gossip being put in such a negative context. "I don't."

A smirk tugged at his lips. "Are you referring to your nosiness, or my identity? If it's the former, I'd have to call you a liar."

"Leave her alone," Ethan snapped. "And just tell us your name. Quit playing these games."

The smirk vanished and his eyebrows knit together as though he wasn't going to answer. Then he said, "William." It hung in the quiet air as he and Ethan scowled at one another.

"Morning, all," River Wenham said less than cheerfully as he led them into the room, breaking the tension that gathered in the moments of silence. "Is Supervisor Komui awake?" He didn't wait for an answer before muttering, "Of course not.

"Supervisor…" River called from across the room. He got only a faint snore in response. He crossed the room and tried again, louder, shaking him a little. "Supervisor!"

"Mmm hmm…?"

"The group's ready to get their mission specs."

Komui lifted his head tiredly and raised a hand in a wave. Then he frowned. "William," he said.

"Yes, sir?" he asked politely, straightening in a slightly militant fashion.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were ill."

He swallowed nervously. "I was, but I recovered over a week ago. I'm surprised no one told you."

"Hmm," the Supervisor said, unconvinced and frustrated. "Section Leader, you should have told me you picked William for this! Anyway, you're sure you're well enough?"

"Yes, sir."

"If you say so." Komui straightened up and stretched before moving on. "Here's what I gave the group that's already in Portugal. It's a few weeks old, but it'll do for background. I do have to brief you on the current situation though." He yawned as he passed out the little booklets of information.

"Yesterday, we got a call from our Finders that a few straggler Akuma wandered into Braga (5). While they were able to take care of them, they are now short on talismans and several of the ones they have are malfunctioning. You'll be taking them new talismans, and also keeping an eye on William."

"Why do we have to babysit him?" Máté grumbled.

"You don't need to _babysit_ me," William said defensively. "I can take care of myself as well as any of you, but I'm not an Exorcist. I can't destroy half a legion of level twos, and I doubt you could either. It's dangerous for any of us to travel alone. I would have thought you'd pick up on that after being here, how long?"

"Okay, that's enough, William. It's very true though. And we're very lucky to have William with us. He's one of the few Finders who has spent enough time in the science department to know how to repair a talisman." The other three Finders stole poorly concealed glances at the doorway, where William was slowly and carefully pulling his bag onto his shoulder.

"That's all you need to know for now," Komui said, making his way back to his seat. "There are Portuguese Finders there already, but until you meet them, don't try to talk to anyone." He smiled quickly before turning somber again. "Are you ready to move out?"

"Yes, sir!" each of them responded with varying degrees of seriousness.

"Good. Good luck, and good night," he said and put his head back down on the desk.

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

Footnotes:

Ange (1) – French; angel (With foreign languages, nothing shall be assumed. Everything shall be a footnote)

Petit fille (2) – French; little girl

149 cm (3) – For my fellow Americans (it's a pretty bad feeling, knowing that we're the only ones left who use inches, feet, etc. … O_o), that's roughly four eleven

Kicsi Testvér (4) – Hungarian; lit. little brother

Braga (5) – I definitely didn't make that up. It's an actual city in Portugal that's been around for ever and been taken over by everyone and has more different culturally distinct styles than you can count on one hand, so it should exist even in the alternate 19th century


	4. Chapter 3

**Reviews make me happy. Reviews make me update. My silent readers, you should be thanking Pamela Dracula, 0Infinity0, and Midnight Hikari as much as I am. In other words, a lot!  
**

**Disclaimer: I own... two more crappily translated tankobon. Horray for the holidays, sorry I missed them.  
**

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

For the first time in her life, Grace boarded a train normally. Her only experiences with that form of travel involved literally catching it from on a bridge at least fifty feet above it, not what many would call pleasant, but boarding from the French station instead was a nicer method, if much more crowded. What she couldn't figure out was why William insisted on getting tickets and why Komui had seemingly authorized this by giving him a document to get them for free, as he ignored all questions concerning it.

They sat in silence for the duration of the rides across France and into Iberia, and either slept or simply stared out the window at the cycle of cities giving way to farms and fields before waxing back into civilization. After an entire day and then some of train riding, they finally reached the city in the evening, autumn dusk settling over the land and street lights being lit up and down the unusually wide streets. They were nearly empty, leaving the small group more than enough room to walk abreast with their large backpacks, rather than single file as they'd been forced to do in London and cities in France, all the way to the church.

Outside the grand double doors, four other Finders stood to welcome them inside with a sigh of relief and then cast cagey glances down the ally ways as though a group of Akuma might appear to release the five of their brethren hovering in the prisons above the church yard. Once they opened the doors just enough to let their bulging bags of equipment into the room, three of them shut the doors and began moving a pile of heavy furniture back in front of it. The shortest and most withdrawn looking of them all introduced himself as Daniel Navarro, the senior member and captain of sorts. "I would have thought Komui would have sent some older Finders as well. Children should not be made to carry such burdens," he said in a mild Spanish accent, his eyes trained on Grace and Máté in particular.

The latter teenager's face twisted angrily and he took his hands off the straps, letting his shoulders alone take the weight. "If I couldn't do it, Komui wouldn't have picked me."

"Besides," William added with a scowl as though he was included with them, "once you sell your soul to the Vatican, you've given up your childhood. If you don't want us carrying around packs, you shouldn't let teenagers join."

Daniel smiled nervously and said, "You're right of course. And your help is very much appreciated. Let's get right to work then, shall we? Which one of you is the engineer?" William put his hand in the air, the bag on his shoulders clinking with metal parts as it had whenever he moved for the whole trip. "Right… you'll come with me. The rest of you can leave the talismans with the others and then get some supper. We've made a kitchen out of a small room at the end of that hall, and the store room is the one just before it on the left."

Grace stole a glance back at William, walking alongside the Spanish man he was considerably taller than, and then returned her focus to the pack that dug into her shoulders whenever she put it on and trudged after her friends to the depleted store room. The equipment they brought added to it, but there they learned that the majority of the twelve talismans they'd come with, enough for one apiece at the time, that weren't containing the demons fell into the category of "malfunctioning" and that they would probably take William most of the next two days to repair. Of course, because he was a teenager – she still didn't know how old exactly – they didn't have much faith in him, but she was still determined to bring him something to eat.

After convincing the cook that she wouldn't eat the extra serving of soup and bread herself, she followed directions to the work room, established in a large room full of confessionals. At a long table in the back of the room sat a figure she assumed to be William, bent over in the dim light.

"Who is it?" he asked without looking up when she approached.

"It's Grace. I… I brought you supper. No one else seemed like they were going to."

"Of course they wouldn't," he said. She started to put the bowl on the table, but he stopped her. "I'd rather you found somewhere else to keep that for now. Oil tends to taste awful when it gets in my food."

"But… it'll get cold. You've been working since you got here, right? Don't you want a break?" She also couldn't find anywhere else to put it short of inside one of the confessionals.

"I'll be fine. It's a bother to stop and start with these things. And this one's almost done anyway."

Grace looked inside the box confessionals and found two kneelers, one for the soup and one for her so she could watch William work. He did so with a slow, careful precision she couldn't remember someone roughly her age having before.

"Don't you have to be somewhere?" he asked suddenly.

Startled, she said, "No, not really. They've already barricaded us in here pretty well. Do you want me to leave?"

"It wouldn't hurt."

"Oh… Well, would you mind if I didn't? I've just realized that even though I've been using the talismans for over a year, I really don't know anything about them."

"So you think you can learn about it by watching me fixing it? That's pretty arrogant of you."

"No!" she said. "I was hoping you'd explain it to me."

William sighed and pushed up the bandana keeping stray hair out of his face with the back of his hand.

"It works on the principle that Akuma are dark and hate anything light. So, if you wrap light around it, less powerful Akuma can be trapped. Of course, you have to get light to form a three dimensional box around it, so Komui came up with some liquid to spray around it so the light will reflect and enclose whatever it's wrapped around. I don't know how that stuff works, so don't ask. That's why when you're making a barrier you have to point it at the sky so the spray will fall around you and the light will hit all of it. The top isn't really glass either; it's a net made from thin wires. It sounds simple enough, but it's a real pain when you have to take it all apart." When he finished, his hands sped up a bit and he stopped to control them before continuing to adjust screws.

"All that for one talisman?" Grace asked in wonder.

"One talisman means there's one less Akuma to be killing people if there isn't an Exorcist around. They malfunction a lot, but easy to fix."

"That doesn't look easy," she said.

"I said when they _malfunction_. These things are _broken_."

"Oh… I'll leave you alone then."

"Thank you."

She stacked one kneeler on the other so he was more likely to see the food and not go hungry and left the room, feeling unsatisfied for some reason.

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

In the morning, panic and apprehension were no longer being even vaguely concealed. The promised Exorcist, Kanda Yuu, should have arrived before the extra talismans from Headquarters. It was three days since Komui, who someone or other was always calling for updates, had heard anything from Kanda and Walker in Italy. The more nervous among them openly paced the church hallways pausing only to look at the confessional room and wring their hands a bit more. A good number of others stood inside the store room or the room just across from it, where rested the Innocence, a large book that could apparently answer any question accurately and, according to the locals, predict the future.

After she found it more unbearable to be waiting in the tiny room she'd been given as the only girl for something to happen, Grace decided to visit the Innocence, vaguely hoping that, somehow, it would chose her for its accommodator. What she would do after that though, she couldn't imagine.

Already inside the windowless room were three other Finders; two she didn't know, playing a tense game of chess in a vain effort to try to calm themselves, and William, leaning over the altar where the Innocence rested and turning the pages idly.

"You're following me," he said without looking up.

"I'm not trying to," she said, frowning. "How did you know it was me anyway?"

"You're the lightest person here and your footsteps give that away. You also drag your feet."

Grace felt her cheeks heat up and resolved to rid herself of the habit. "I didn't mean to look like I was following you, we just happened to be in the same place at once. I didn't even know you were in here."

For whatever reason, the boy chuckled. "You'd seem a lot less guilty if you didn't protest as much. The best way to avoid suspicion of anything is to say little, not tell a complex story that leaves room for examination and persecution."

"And you would know? From personal experience?"

He stayed silent for a moment and Grace suddenly remembered that there were others in the room. Then, he said, "I read a lot. That's all." He turned another page in the book and suddenly shook his right hand out as though stung by the action.

"Did you get a paper-cut?" Grace asked after another moment of silence. The other two in the room took notice of their conversation for the first time and gave short barks of laughter at the absurdity of a Black Order Employee suffering from a paper-cut.

William looked down at his hand and recoiled. He hit the wall with such force that he collapsed onto the floor and held his finger at a distance as though it might bite him. His calm breathing had instantaneously sped to an alarming rate and his eyes flitted around the room, terrified.

"Hey, calm down, kid," one of the nameless Finders said. He got to his feet and approached William. "It's just a little blood, nothing to worry about."

William strung profanities together, one after another, nearly hyperventilating all the time, and tears streamed down his face.

"What's wrong?" Grace asked, alarmed. She couldn't hear the answer, but he mouthed something that looked like, "bleed".

"Shh," she whispered, trying to hide how shaken she was by his reaction. She took his right hand and hid the tip of his finger in between her palms. "All gone, see?"

He covered his face with his left forearm and whispered, "It's not done. It's not, it's still bleeding, it's not done!"

Grace laughed nervously. "Y-You're scared of blood, right? That's okay, but I'll wipe it up, okay? It's just a little cut, so don't worry. It can't bleed that much."

He jerked his hand out of her grip and applied pressure and his sleeve to the tiny cut as though it were a life-threatening wound. His frantic breaths slowed, but only slightly. "I can." Then he shook his head and began forcing himself to calm down. "I'm not… afraid of blood," he said slowly. "I don't care… if someone else bleeds all over the place… I don't mind the blood. I'm afraid of… of me bleeding."

"Isn't that a little selfish, kid?" asked the Finder who hadn't rushed to William's side at the episode. He sat back down at the chess table and fumed. ""I don't care if someone else bleeds all over the place"? Doesn't that equate to, "I don't care if someone else dies"? I hate people like that."

William shook his head again. "I have a reason… and I don't care if it is selfish anyway. I don't want to die. So I'm afraid."

Grace was confused, but she had to pretend to understand. "I… I think I get it."

He got to his feet, accepting a hand from Grace to get started, and leaned against the altar. "I don't think you do, but that's fine. I can't expect someone who doesn't even know me to – "

Grace didn't have to ask this time when he trailed off. A burst of green light shot out from the pages of the open book, filling the tiny room. She tried to shield her eyes with her palms, doubling over and adding her thighs when the light made its way through the cracks in between her hands and face the way only the Innocence could. Four short cries pierced the dead air and every sound was clear; startled gasps, clothes rustling, something heavy falling to the floor, a boot kicking the wooden altar and the stone floor in turn, and several pained breaths.

The door creaked as it opened, hinges pushed too far with the suddenness of the force protesting. "Grace!" shouted Ethan's disembodied voice. The blinding light must have faded; she hadn't told him she was seeing the Innocence. She uncurled herself and immediately regretted it. The ghost of neon light still haunted her vision and made her eyes ache. She felt Ethan's arms around her and she sank back to the floor against him.

"I'm all right, I just can't see… God, it really hurts."

"It was probably the light, Ethan," said an older voice she didn't quite recognize – Daniel, perhaps? – "She'll be fine soon. I'm worried about that engineer boy."

_William_, she thought. _What happened to him?_ She forced her eyes open a crack. Even the dim light from the lanterns and the hallway were painful, and she shut them again and whimpered.

"Easy, Grace," Ethan said, running his hand over her tight braid.

"What's wrong with William?"

"Don't worry about that right now, just…"

"Stop babying me, Ethan!" she shouted through her hands. "What happened to him? I want to know!"

His deep breath was muffled by the chatter to her left – around the young Finder. "I… I really don't know, Grace. I can see blood on his face, but other than that… I can't even tell if he's conscious."

"Hey, get your hands off of her!"

Higher in pitch but still distinctly male, Máté sounded extremely agitated. Ethan's comforting hands left her shoulders.

"Geez, you make it sound like I'm harassing her or something."

Grace didn't get to see the venomous glare Máté shot the nineteen year old before he said, "What happened, Grace?"

She laughed a little. "Innocence is really bright."

A childish grin flashed across the boy's face. "Oh yeah, I think William broke it."

Her chuckle died away. "Broke it?" The thought seemed utterly impossible to her. Innocence was literally a gift from God, transformed into the many weapons the Exorcists used, but never destroyed. "H-How?"

"How should I know," he asked, a sneer she couldn't see playing on his lips. He was envious of William too; Grace had been spending too much time with him over the past two days for his liking, and now she was too concerned for him. "The pages from the book are gone, there's just the leather left. It's broken."

She unclenched her eyes and though it still burned to see anything but the ghostly flashes, she forced them to stay open at least a bit. Squinting at her surroundings, she stood and searched her shrunken field of vision for her new "friend". When she found him, the sight was almost enough to make her sick.

William's limp body was propped up against the wall, being examined by a Finder who probably had some medical experience. Two fingers on his right hand, thumb and forefinger, were missing, leaving bloodied stumps that bled furiously, but the digits were nowhere to be found. Blood and chunks of something – she didn't even want to think about what it probably was – ran down his cheeks and onto his shirt from under partially open eyelids, where a faint green glow was growing stronger with every pulse of blood that oozed out. And in his lap, just as Máté said, was the skeleton of the Innocence, a leather cover and William's half rimmed glasses.

"Ethan…" she whispered. He took her hand and moved in between her and William like a shield and pulled her into a hug.

"It's okay, Grace, he's… he'll be okay."

Was she naïve enough to believe him?

She nodded into his chest and almost smiled as he held her.

Yes, she was.

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

**It's time for a contest! Aren't you excited?**

**If anyone figures out what's up with William before chapter six or so (besides what should probably be obvious after the end of this chapter), shoot me a private message so no one who reads the reviews will claim virtual sweet things without putting in the same amount of thought. I'll announce any winners of my various imaginary sugary baked goods every chapter until it's revealed! Limited time only, so call now!**

**Oh, yeah, and please review too. Just not with your answer.  
**


	5. Chapter 4

**Well, sorry for the wait, all four of my reviewers. I won't waste time telling you why, just be happy this is out now. Giant snow storm for the win...**

**And without further ado, the relatively unexciting Chapter Four.**

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

When he regained consciousness, before he woke up, when he thought about it, William heard the muttering. It wasn't the first time he'd woken up to worried voices, people leaning over him, unable to tell if he was all right, so at first he dismissed them. But when he started becoming aware of other things – that he was in a bed, that there were several blankets piled on top of him that weren't doing anything to help with the internal chill, a soft hand, probably Grace's, on his bare shoulder – and the voices didn't become much clearer, it started to concern him.

He must have stirred at that point; Grace's hand moved from his arm to his forehead. "Are you all right, William?" she asked. It was distant, as though she was somehow very far away, compared to the other mutterings. "Does it hurt?"

"Po, a të dhemb?"

This time William knew he'd moved, jerked upright in shock. This new voice speaking a language he didn't know had emerged from the mutterings, ringing deep and clear in his head. Another voice came through and said, "Ano, to bolí?"

"Sí, li fa mal?"

"Ja, doet het pijn?"

"Ja, gør det ondt?"

"Stop it!" he yelled as they began to overlap – "Si, doe?".

"William, what's wrong?" Grace asked, farther away now – "Sì, fa male?" – as though she'd physically moved away from him.

"Don't! St-stop it, just go away!"

"Tá a dhéanann, Gortaítear sé?"

"Oo, ito ay saktan?"

"Evet, acıyor?"

"Kyllä, se sattuu?

"Ja, gör det ont?"

"Ja, ne boli?"

"Da, nu-i doare?"

"Sim, dói?"

"はい、それを傷つけるのですか？" (1)

"Yes, does it hurt?"

"Shut up!"

The clamor of voices suddenly stopped, all but disappearing back into the low whispers in the back of his mind. Dizziness he'd been able to ignore while they'd kept his frantic attention overwhelmed him, and he grayed out. He woke horizontal, and for the first time realized that he couldn't see; there was some sort of cloth over his eyes. He lifted his left arm and ran his fingers over his face. Everything seemed fine, though the multiple layers of knit fabric, bandages, wrapped over his eyes and forehead suggested otherwise.

"W-William?"

It was Grace, sounding scared out of her mind. "You're awake again… are you all right?"

A whisper in the background rose above the others. "William, kau baik-baik saja?" (2) William gasped, expecting another onslaught of foreign questions, but it died after the first one and he relaxed

"You really had me scared there, William. I…"

"Tu m'a vraiment fait peur…" (3)

"You couldn't hear it, then…" he muttered as the thought came to him. "You _can't_ hear them…"

"Hear… hear what, William?"

"Me losing my mind," he said shakily. "Talking to myself in languages I don't even know… I've got dementia praecox or whatever the hell Luke was talking about..."

"Get a grip, rookie," said a voice, another one that was further away. That meant it was real. It had a slight accent, one that rolled the "r"s in such a way that they sounded like "l"s, and there was only one Asian member of the Order who would ever be so blunt.

William propped himself up on his elbows to give the illusion that he was stronger than he felt at the moment, despite protests from his head and the voices inside it – "Sie sollten sich hinlegen…" (4). If there were two things he hated, they were people who looked down on others, and people who took things for granted, and from what William knew, Kanda Yu fit nicely into both of those categories.

"I thought you'd left already, sir," said Grace timidly, as she did whenever she spoke to an Exorcist. "The Akuma are gone, aren't they? Your mission is over…"

"My mission, girl," the Japanese Exorcist snapped, "Is to collect the Innocence. The brat has the Innocence, so I have to collect him. It's your job to make sure he gets the hell out of bed."

"Sir, William lost his fingers and his… his eyes. I-I don't think he'll be ready to go anywhere very soon."

"Wait… what?" William reached out to where he thought Grace might be on his right side but didn't catch her arm. "Grace… I lost what? You're not serious are you? And what does Kanda mean, I "have" the Innocence?"

One of her hands wrapped around his and held onto it, but she didn't say anything. She didn't have to. Her hand rubbed against raw skin at his thumb and forefinger, making them feel uncomfortable and itchy. He tried to move his fingers out of the way, but he couldn't get them away from her skin. It took him a moment to realize it was because they no longer existed. The itchiness came from the scar tissue formed on the stumps of his fingers where it had been cauterized, and the muscles in his hand he was flexing weren't moving anything. He'd heard of "ghost limbs", but still couldn't believe that he could feel the missing fingers through where Grace's hand was.

"God… they're really…" William had trouble admitting it to himself, even as he pulled away from her and felt the stumps with his own hand.

"Yes, rookie, they're gone. Say it, accept it, get over it, and don't pity yourself or I'll end up killing your dumb ass on the way back to headquarters."

"Mr. Exorcist, maybe you should go…"

"Tch. Like I'd hang around with someone in denial, especially a dumbass like this." The two Finders winced as Kanda slammed the door. Then William fell back on his pillow, teeth clenched and shoulders shaking.

"William!" Grace said in alarm. She leaned over him, trying to figure out what was wrong. "Are you okay? Is something hurting you?"

He shook his head. "Grace, you said my eyes were g-… gone too, right?"

She was silent, but from the noise she made, as though remembering something, William guessed she'd nodded before realizing that he couldn't see her. "Yes… but it's okay if you don't believe me. The Innocence… it… it's really disgusting to think about, but it…" There was a creak from her chair as she squirmed. "It replaced your eyes with itself," she finished in a quick mess of words. "But you don't have to believe something like that if you don't want to…"

"I'm not stupid, Grace. I can tell they're gone." His voice broke, and Grace realized that his rigidity had come from him sobbing. "I've never cried so much without tears coming out."

"Why are you crying?" she asked, honestly unable to think of a reason for it. "Are you sure it doesn't hurt? Or are you scared you're bleeding?"

"I don't know," he said between gasps. "I can't tell… if it's because I'm scared to live as a cripple… scared of these voices, of the Innocence… or relieved I didn't die… I don't know."

Looking back, Grace would wish she'd done more for William than sat by him, awkwardly holding his hand until he tired himself out and fell asleep, but at the time that was all her underdeveloped maternal instincts could think of. When he finally stopped crying and stayed silent when she spoke to him from just by his ear, she phoned the Supervisor in London.

"Ah, I was just about to call you, Grace." It was surprising how quickly he'd come to know her name and voice since she'd been charged with taking care of an accommodator. "How is he? I'm assuming he woke up."

"Um… he was crying, because he was scared or happy… he didn't really want to think about his fingers being off, I don't think, but I couldn't tell…"

"I meant more of his physical condition," Komui said kindly, though there was a hint of irritation; a seventeen, almost eighteen, year old girl should be able to figure out that he was more of a doctor than an emotional therapist. "Is he dizzy, nauseous, in pain, having trouble breathing? Anything like that?"

"Oh, no… he sort of fainted when he sat up once, but he told me it didn't hurt every time I asked…"

Komui paused as though taking notes. "What about the Innocence? Did you tell him?"

"Well, Mr. Kanda did…"

"Same thing. How did he take it?"

"O-Okay, I think. But… he might be scared of it. Oh, and what's dementia prayco? William said something about it…"

"Dementia praecox? Essentially, it's hallucinations that are typical of senile elders that start earlier in life, at twenty or so. It usually has to do with hearing voices. (5) Why would he mention that?"

"I don't know… I guess there were voices… when he first woke up, I thought he was crazy or something. He was yelling at someone to shut up…"

"That's probably the Innocence. Parasitic type accommodators are known to have stranger things happen to their bodies than those with equipment types… you shouldn't worry about it too much, I'll do that when he gets here.

"Oh, that's another thing, don't rush him toward moving around too much. We need to make sure he's healthy whenever he gets here, not get him here as fast as we can and then worry about his health. And I don't want him to try activating the Innocence until he comes to Headquarters either. It's just bonded to him, so the synchronization rate will definitely be below forty percent, and it's too dangerous for him to attempt an unsupervised activation at this point."

"Oh… okay…" Grace struggled to recite to herself all the things she wasn't supposed to do and the things she was supposed to tell William he wasn't supposed to do. "Okay, I got it."

On the other end of the call Komui chuckled. "Thank you, Grace. You're being a great help with all this."

Suddenly filled with a great sense of self-satisfaction, Grace said, "Oh, it's no problem. I mean, William's my friend, right?"

"That's right," he said softly. "Take good care of him."

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

Footnotes:

(1) Those all say "Yes, does it hurt?", but I don't remember which languages they are… I tried to keep to ones with the common alphabet so the majority of you could read them if not understand them, so all I really know is that there isn't Arabic, Greek, Russian, or Chinese among them… but there is Finnish for 0Infinity0, one of my two steady reviewers! I just don't remember which one…

(2) Malay for "William, are you all right?"

(3) French for "You really scared me"

(4) German for "You should lie down"

(5) Dementia praecox was the earliest name and definition of schizophrenia, but since I don't like to reality bend too much and "schizophrenia" wasn't coined until 1908, I used this one, which was first used in 1893. Win

A quick sub-note about the voices. From now on, I won't be putting them all in like I did for this chapter because they'll end up taking too much space I need for other things, but when it's important (you'll see what I mean later on), they'll show up in the text again. So until that happens, just remember that they're always there, but that doesn't make William's Innocence intelligent; it's more like a parrot that knows more languages.

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

**The contest is still up, everyone! PM me if you have an answer to the question: what's wrong with William? I'm not sure how long it's going to be before it gets revealed; I'm trying to drag things out as much as possible, but it's creeping up on me! Remember, virtual sweets!**

**Reviews are excellent ingredients for cookies and cakes.**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter five... not much to say**. **Thanks, moonlit nocturne and 0Infinity0, for reviewing.**

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

The next morning, after finding that he'd been in bed for two days straight, William ventured out of the sheets, claiming fear of his muscles weakening instead of the more true statement of restlessness. The rest of the Finders were packing their things and getting ready to go back to headquarters, but he and his escorts had been given permission to stay until William had fully recovered. He didn't usually mind lying in bed until he was thoroughly ready to get up, but he wasn't usually listening to several dozen voices that always seemed to be talking amongst themselves either.

"Can I take this thing off my face?" William asked as he pulled on a shirt to wear under his uniform and stretched. He was grateful to find that nothing ached too badly when he moved. "It's bothering me."

"Um…" Grace said uncertainly, standing by in case he collapsed. Kanda was nowhere to be found. "The Supervisor didn't say anything about that, so I don't think so… hey!"

Already working on the bandages and trying to overcome the awkwardness of untying something with only one thumb, William said, "If he didn't say I couldn't, I might as well. Technically, I still have eyes, they're just not mine." The cloth came loose and he pulled it over his head, blinking.

From the images his new eyes were sending him, William thought there must be something wrong with them. The room and everything in it seemed more green than he knew was possible, for one. There were also several tables by the bed, several small windows, several doors, and several Graces, all superimposed over one another and jerking around as though the whole place were rocking. He staggered back into the bed, disoriented, and all the Graces moved to catch him, at slightly different intervals. He couldn't tell what the expression on her face was, as it changed from one image to the next and they seemed to be doing some bizarre sort of shuffling now that it was closer, but her voice was worried and scared, as he found it usually was.

"I'm okay," he said breathlessly. "But this is _weird_."

"I know that!" she said. "Your eyes are green! And glowing!"

"That's generally what Innocence looks like…" he muttered. He put his face in his hands and pinched the bridge of his nose; all the shifting was starting to give him a headache already.

"Are you okay?" she asked, putting a hand on his back.

He jerked away with a yelp. "Don't _do_ that!" he yelled in her general direction before leaning forward further and taking deep, shuddering breaths. "_Please_, don't do that."

"I'm sorry!" Her voice was more muffled than it usually was; she was covering her mouth with her hands. "What happened?"

"There's a bruise there from when I ran into the wall two days ago. It's fine if you leave it alone, so don't touch it."

"Oh. Do you bruise easily or something?"

For some reason, William found that funny. "You could say that," he said through his chuckling.

"That's not funny, William! I'm worried about you, you know?"

He gave one last laugh before closing his eyes and standing up. "Would you mind leading me around while we're on the train and wherever else on the way back? I'd like to keep my respective meals down while traveling."

"Is it that bad? I mean… what do things look like?"

"A kaleidoscope."

She said, "I love kaleidoscopes! Why would that make you dizzy?"

"There's a difference between looking through one and being _in_ one," he said, obviously annoyed.

"I'm sorry." Her voice was soft for a different reason now. "You… you don't like me very much, do you?"

William was silent.

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

The moment the trio left the church two days later, Kanda and William were at odds. One after another, things the young accommodator did made Kanda shout at him, but the boy took it almost silently, a contrast to the loud "bean sprout" Kanda kept insisting William was similar to. From the fact that William was wearing a bandana to cover his impaired eyes to the pace they were going at because of it, everything became a reason for the older Exorcist to yell at him. The current argument, not as single sided as the others, was over the train ride.

"I'm not going through the station, rookie," Kanda said with finality. "There's no need to, so I don't."

"Well I'm not jumping off a bridge," William said. He wasn't half as loud as the Japanese Exorcist, but his words were just as firm now that he was actually saying something. "I'd like to make it back to headquarters alive, so I don't jump onto trains from fifty feet above them. You can do that if you're dead set on it, I don't care. You'll just have to wait for it to get going." Grace was sure she saw a trace of a smirk on his face as he turned away, feeling inside his bag for the documents that had gotten them seats on the last train.

"Like you'd die from a fall like that," Kanda muttered angrily. "Whatever. I don't care about staying with a coward like you anyway."

"So why are you bothering to bring it up in the first place? Make a consistent argument, please."

They were on a public bridge, but despite the numerous witnesses who stared and gasped, Kanda pulled out Mugen and put it to William's throat. "You're really starting to piss me off, brat."

William felt cold metal on his throat and gave a strangled cry, backing up against a metal pillar of the bridge. In seconds, he was crying and whimpering, "No, don't, don't, don't touch me, don't, not with that, don't, don't…"

"Mr. Exorcist!" Grace said, desperately trying to push Kanda away; him being twenty five centimeters taller and several kilograms heavier than her, it wasn't going very well.

Kanda's scowl deepened and he pressed the sword to William's neck hard enough to cut him, if it had been sharp. "Back of the blade, dumbass." He pulled it away and sheathed it, leaving his kouhai to sink to the ground in a frightened and relieved mess. "You'd better hurry to catch your train," he sneered.

"William!" Grace dropped to her knees, but didn't put her arms around him as fast as she wanted to. She remembered that his back was still tender, and people were starting to gather around them, wondering if the tall boy was all right. Some were shooting them condescending looks; mostly men toward William, incredulous at seeing a teenage boy crying like a baby. When he wrapped his arms around himself, she finally got the courage to hug him anyway. He usually hated her touching him at all, and seemed to be afraid of any contact at all, but now he seemed too scared to care.

"It's okay," she said, for the first time since meeting him absolutely sure that the statement was true. Avoiding his spine, she rubbed his neck and shoulders and held him as close as she could to her small frame. He gasped a few times as he tried to catch his breath and she gently hushed him after each one. "Don't worry. It's okay, Will, don't…"

Very suddenly, he shoved her away. "Don't call me that, don't you ever call me that!" he shouted. Then he broke down again. "My name… my name is William… William…" he sobbed.

Grace held her hand out as she approached him, as she would a stray cat. "I'm sorry, William," she said slowly. "I won't do it again. But… Mr. Kanda was right. The train's coming soon. We… we should go…"

William swallowed and nodded, letting her help him up. He turned and leaned over the railing and for several long moments looked like he might be sick. While he recovered, Grace nervously brushed off questions from the bystanders who were concerned, most of them well-dressed young women – also a good bit taller than her – who kept shooting her jealous glances. She was more than relieved when a much calmer William let her lead him to the train waiting below.

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

"William…" Grace said awkwardly. Since they'd confirmed that Kanda was in fact on the same train, they'd sat in silence, all through Portugal and well into Spanish territory, but it was only now that she managed to gather up enough of her usually much more abundant social courage to speak to him.

"Hmm?" he said without turning his head away from the second class window.

"Well… I was wondering… why are you with the Order? You don't really seem to be the type to risk your life for a cause like this… you're not religious or anything, are you?"

He shook his head. "But neither are you."

"What?"

"You're a coward too, aren't you?"

Grace looked at her hands, unable to admit he was right. "What… what makes you say that?"

"Takes one to know one. And you're not religious either, so what's the big deal?"

"Well, I used to be."

He raised a barely visible eyebrow – most of it was covered by the bandana. "Never heard that one before." There was relative silence in the car as the tide of other conversations died down. "I'm here with my brother. He got a job offer and I came with him. That's all."

Grace found herself smiling. "That's sweet."

Her smile faded as his lip curled in disgust as it had the moment they'd first met. "So you're one of those girls, huh?"

"I… I just meant… I've always wished I had a brother or sister. Well, I can't really remember, but these three years I've wished I had a brother or sister. That's why I try to think of everyone as family, okay?" she said defensively. "Miss Lenalee does it too, even though she has her brother with her…"

The eyebrow raised again. "Your turn."

"What?"

William sighed. "Your story's pretty convoluted too, isn't it? So why are you with the Order?"

"That's easy," she said. "I owe them my life. See? Not convol… complicated at all."

He waved his hand and said, "Explain."

"I had amnesia," she said as though it were the most common thing in the world. "Well… have… it doesn't go away. I can remember things that happen to me now, but I can't imagine things… future things… so I still have it…. Anyway, after that, General Cross and Mr. Allen took me to a church, and the Order's workers in the church helped me learn how to do everything again." She smiled sadly. "I've read a bunch of books where someone had amnesia, and they make it seem really fun, trying to figure out who you were, but it's not… it's hard to be like a baby when you're fourteen years old and can't do anything all the sudden. And no one ever realizes that when you figure out who you were, it doesn't matter anymore, because you can't remember…" She stopped for a moment and looked out the window.

"When I joined the Order and when on my first mission, we went through my home town and someone recognized me, and they called me Amelia…. I found out that my mother was dead, and that I'd been so sad, and they asked me why I wasn't still crying, since I'd grown up just with her… That's when I realized that it doesn't matter like it does in the books. I couldn't be sad, because I was Grace, not Amelia, and Grace only had Máté, and Ethan later, and everyone else at the Order, and Jessica Evans didn't mean anything to Grace, and…"

She trailed off as she saw her companion out of the corner of her eye. William was limp against the window, and though she couldn't really tell because of the impromptu blindfold, she was sure he had slept through her story.

Just when she was about to declare herself irrevocably mad at him, he said, "You talk too much."

Even though he didn't like her, he'd listened.

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

**"There was one cradle. There was one inside the cradle. And the one became... three..." True story. This and the next two chapters were originally one chapter. Crazy, ain't it?**

**So, the contest is STILL going on, if anyone's interested, though I'm starting to doubt it at this point. I dropped some more hints in here, a few more obvious (I think) ones, so if anyone thinks they know, PM me for virtual sweets. How about this; even if you don't know for sure, even if you're totally wrong, you get a cookie just for participating. How's that? 0Infinity0 gets a cookie already.**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter six... I'm updating like mad this month. Thanks Midnight Hikari, 0Infinity0, and moonlit nocturne, for reviewing!**

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

When the group finally reached the docks under the Order, Kanda jumped out immediately, dodging the miniature group of Finders clustered around to greet Grace. Ethan acknowledged Kanda with a slight nod, which he ignored, and Máté shot the Exorcist a glare before he practically jumped on Grace as she tied off the boat and climbed out.

"I missed you," he said, which was only a slight exaggeration.

"I missed you too…"

"Grace!"

William was kneeling in the boat, reaching for the dock and not finding it. "Grace, help… help me."

She turned and cursed her forgetfulness, though in her mind it didn't help that William hadn't said more than a few words since they'd gotten on the boat to the tower. She knelt and took his arms at the elbows. "Just step out, okay? There's space," she said after she double checked.

"Where? Where? I don't want to fall, I don't want…"

Trying to calm him, she rubbed his shoulder. "It's okay." She reached out and put a hand on his leg. "Just lift up and go where I pull you, okay?"

Agonizingly slowly, William lifted his leg and crossed the few centimeters of water between the boat and the dock. The other followed, and he fell against Grace's shoulder in relief. "Th-thanks…" he stammered, trying to pull away.

Grace held onto his shoulders and didn't let him go. "It's okay. Just calm down, okay? No hurry. Take as much time as you need."

He did, and didn't try to get up again until his shoulders had stopped shaking and his breaths were coming evenly again. "Thanks," he said again. "Where's my bag?"

Grace pulled the backpack out of the boat and handed it to him. "You're ready?"

"Yeah, no problem."

"Okay… Komui said to go see him when you got back. Do you need help?"

"I can manage. This place is familiar enough."

Painfully unaware of Máté's sneer, he made his way toward the staircase that lead up to the main levels.

As soon as William was out of earshot, the youngest member of the group asked nastily, "What's his problem?"

"He's scared of bleeding," Grace said, oblivious to the tone of the question. "And he's been really jumpy since he woke up with the Innocence anyway. I'm worried about him…"

Ethan smiled at her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't be. He's fine. I don't know why he's afraid of bleeding, but even if he's scared, at least it won't kill him."

Grace returned the smile, taking his hand in one of hers and Máté's in her other, but she leaned against the Canadian teenager when she closed her eyes. "You're right," she said. "He's fine."

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

"Sit down for me, please."

Komui was especially tired after being forced to help with the cleaning needed after his robot had gone wild in the tower, and William's physical examination wasn't the last thing he needed to do to catch up on real work that had accumulated while he was helping to correct the mistake.

"This really isn't necessary," his patient said.

The Supervisor resisted the urge to roll his eyes and groan at the overwhelmingly inaccuracy of the statement, but just barely. Instead, he convinced William that it was, in fact, very necessary. "William, the last time you got examined was four years ago, when you first got here. You were ten years old, for one, had not yet hit puberty, and were at least a foot shorter than you are now. That aside, you're an accommodator and I'll need to make sure you're healthy on a regular basis if you're going to be an Exorcist."

William nodded in a manner that made Komui believe that he was rolling his covered eyes. "I get it. When I'm a Finder, it's fine to go four years without being checked on, but the second I become an Exorcist, you need to poke me regularly. Fabulous."

Komui sighed. "William, please don't be so bitter. I'd love to give every employee a yearly examination, but there are too many of us here and even more work to do; there isn't enough time as it is. You've worked with us in the Science Department, you know this."

Surprisingly, William put his head in his hands and said, "I'm sorry. I am, I'm sorry. I just…"

"Hey, it's all right," Komui said. He touched William's shoulder. "Don't worry. This is stressful for you, isn't it?"

"They won't shut up," he whispered. "They won't leave me alone and they're making everything worse!"

"It's all right, William. Let's get your height and weight so we can do everything else, alright?"

He helped William up and led him to a yardstick taped to the wall at four feet. "Mmm… 71… ish inches, five eleven is… 179/180 centimeters," Komui said to put it in perspective, still unused to the non-metric measurements the Order used. "Okay, take a step up just to your right, that's a scale… oh, but take off your boots and that robe first," he said and pointed to the Finder's uniform.

When William was done and standing nervously on the scale, Komui slid the first two weights, aiming high at 160. It was far too heavy, and he frowned, edging the tens indicator further toward the zero mark a few tick marks at a time. At 110 it was finally lighter than the boy on the scale, and he slid the last digit forward with relief.

"119 pounds… that's 54 kilos, William," he said in a very serious voice. "You're underweight."

William turned his head away. "I know."

"That's a problem. Do you not eat?"

"Of course I eat," he snapped. "How do you live and not eat?"

"Easy. It's a serious health issue to weigh so little in regards to your height. You're going to have to eat more just to make up for the Innocence living in your body; it'll be even harder to gain any weight now." The blindfold was in the way, but William still didn't come close to meeting Komui's gaze.

Trying to lighten the mood, Komui skipped a few boxes on the drawn up examination sheet, down to his favorite part. "Sit back down. It's time to test your reflexes!"

William followed the instructions uneasily. "With a hammer, right?"

"Beg you pardon?"

"You do it with that little hammer on the knee, right?"

"… That's right…"

William clenched his teeth and gripped the edge of the table. "Please don't. You can do it another way, can't you?"

Puzzled, Komui said lightly, "I suppose I could heat up a stove and see if you jerk away from it before you can actually feel it…"

"Good," William said. "Good, that's fine, let's do that instead."

"William, that was a joke…"

"I don't want a bruise!"

"That's what this is about? William, a little thing like that won't hurt you…"

"I don't… want… a bruise," he said slowly.

With another sigh, Komui muttered, "All right, we'll skip the reflexes." This was going to be a long examination.

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

At long last, they reached the last part of the exam, asking a few questions and looking at the Innocence. This was no mean feat; William had either broken down or exploded at nearly every step in between. It was getting late, and Komui was hopeful that his subordinates would let him sleep for a while after this.

"Now, I'm not a counselor by any stretch of the mark," he said, "But I have to ask: are you always so emotional?"

"No," was the immediate answer. "That's why I don't understand why everything's making me so angry. I get scared easily, sure, but that's not anger, not like this." He laughed uneasily. "Am I pregnant or something?"

Komui found himself laughing too. "It's doubtful. Parasitic hosts are deeply attached to their Innocence, and the Innocence reacts to the hosts' emotions. It's probably just… getting used to you, I guess you'd say, and accidentally amplifying your emotions, so the things that make you feel upset make you want to cry, and turn your anger into murderous hate. With any luck, it'll fade as you get used to having the Innocence in your body."

"I hope so," he said. "I hate this."

The Supervisor nodded and muttered, "Moving on… ah." He paused as he saw one particular note he'd jotted down during the physical. _Joint pain?_ it said. "You seem to be showing early signs of arthritis in your knees and elbows; you couldn't bend them as well as you should be able to and that worries me. Do you know if you have a family history of joint problems?"

William immediately shook his head, then thought it over. "Maybe…" he said. "Maybe on my mother's side…"

"What makes you say that? Does your mother have arthritis?"

"I don't know… I don't remember."

"William, please don't lie to me…"

"I'm not lying!" he snapped. "I don't remember. Besides, I thought you weren't a counselor."

"I'm not. But I am human. I want to understand you, because I know I don't right now. I know I haven't these four years you've been here. So can you trust me a little?"

Shaking his head, William said, "Can't we just look at the Innocence or whatever else there is?"

Realization hit the Supervisor, and he leaned forward, suddenly more sympathetic. "You miss your parents, don't you?"

The sympathy was apparently misplaced. "I hate them," the boy said in a thick voice. "I hate them."

All Komui could say as his mouth fell open was, "Why?"

"I hate them. Why does anyone hate anyone else? Why does anyone love anyone else? I don't know why, I just do."

It wasn't hard to tell the boy was lying again, but Komui didn't press it. "Can you activate it?"

"What?"

"The Innocence. You wanted me to move on to the Innocence or "whatever"," he said with a smile William couldn't see, "So I'm asking you if you can activate it. It's hard to look at it if I can't see what it looks like when it's activated."

"Okay… but how do I do that?"

"You're…not sure…?"

"Why would I be? You told me not to mess with it."

"True…" Komui shoved his glasses up his nose and looked at the floor in embarrassment. "But with all of our current Exorcists' attitudes towards work and my orders, I honestly expected you to take everything I said lightly and defy my instructions completely…"

"Why's that?"

"They're all workaholics. Much as I hate to say it, even Lenalee pushes herself too hard on her missions and has taken to not listening… So you're telling me that you'll actually listen to what I tell you when it's for your own good, and not just do your job no matter what?" He was leaning forward now, more excited than he'd been since Komulin had been finished. He just hoped that this reason for celebration wouldn't be crushed so fast.

"I've never been one to push myself very hard…" William had backed up to avoid the Supervisors enthusiasm and proximity he didn't need to see for it to repel him.

Just as suddenly, Komui backed up, clapping one hand on his clipboard. "So we'll take you over to see Hevlaska and I'll have Lenalee see if she can track Allen down to help you with your activation. How does that sound?"

"Fine… I guess. What do you want me to say?"

"To the elevator!" Komui took William's hand and led him out of the room, into the hallway and the giant elevator shaft it surrounded. He grabbed the remote from one of the various pockets inside his coat – cleverly designed so he could look like he was pulling things from nowhere – and called the large device down to their level. "Hop on!"

William pulled back, obviously taking the statement literally. "That was a figure of speech, William, there's no gap or anything, just step on."

Relieved, but still cautious, the boy did so.

Komui hit a few buttons and the elevator started to descend. "Now, Walker was very upset when Hevlaska checked him, so I'll warn you and say that she might pick you up. She doesn't always, but there's a very good chance that you'll be lifted off the elevator when she looks at your Innocence, all right?"

"Does she ever… drop people?"

"Never!" They stopped well below the normally inhabited floors. "Hev~laska!" Komui called. "I have another apostle for you! Aren't you excited?"

The semi-transparent form of Hevlaska's body rose to meet them. William could have sworn he felt a drop in temperature; a shiver ran down his spine. "Don't be afraid… William," she said. There was definitely a chill, centered around his arms, where tendrils he couldn't see were closing around his elbows. His feet left the floor as they effortlessly lifted him. "This will… not hurt you."

He swallowed nervously. "You sound like you're lying when you hesitate like that," he said.

"I am not."

"Calm down, William! You look like you're having a seizure, you're shaking so badly!"

"You're not funny!" he yelled.

"Hush…" Hevlaska's head touched his. "Two percent… five percent… nine percent… eleven percent… fourteen percent… fifteen percent… seventeen percent… seventeen percent… is the limit."

Komui clapped his hands as Hevlaska let William down. "See, being a parasitic type has its advantages. Most equipment type accommodators start out below ten percent. You could probably stand to activate it for a few seconds."

"Eight to the weakest, when the weak one splits in two," said Hevlaska suddenly, "Six that feel what the blind man saw, the other two that knew."

"Wow," Komui said. "That's the most Hevlaska's ever said in one breath. That's William's Innocence, isn't it?"

The giant figure nodded once. "I cannot say… what it…means though…"

"Don't worry!" Komui said with a cheerful smile. "We'll figure it out eventually, just like everything else!" He shifted a lever and the elevator started to climb back up the tower. "Are you all right?" he asked, serious again. William was on his knees, leaning over the railing. "You look like you're going to be sick over the stray Innocence we've gathered."

"It didn't hurt," he said, "But it makes you feel… I can't describe it."

They slowed to a stop at one of the lowest inhabited levels. "Awful, right? That's what everyone says." The boy nodded and Komui put a hand on his shoulder. "On the bright side, you probably won't have to do it again for a while."

"That's not fair!" a young, irritated voice said from just off the elevator. "You weren't so understanding a week ago when I tried to hit you."

"Now, now, Allen, don't be angry. He's younger than you _and_ he's not used to his Innocence yet; he deserves a little slack, don't you think?"

Allen Walker was shaking his head, his expression a mixture of dead-pan and disbelief. "There's no way he's younger than me. He's way too tall."

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

**Was that enough canon, m.n? :)**

**Only two chapters until William's secret is revealed! This one had the most obvious hints yet, at least me, knowing what it is, so I'm hoping at least one person takes a stab this time around. Remember, you get virtual sweets just for trying (though you don't get to pick)! Winners get several times more goodies of their choice, so be sure to include that with your submissions this time around!**

**Please review too!**


	8. Chapter 7

**Next chapter, not as quickly as I would have like, but what have you. I had to bite the bullet and post before the next chapter was ready... Thanks guys for reviewing last chapter.**

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

"There's no way he's younger than me. He's way too tall."

The Lees looked at their now second newest Exorcist, sweat forming on their faces. "What does that have to do with anything…?" William asked, also aiming his head in the general direction – he was still blindfolded.

"Anyway, Gē Ge (1)," Lenalee said, "Do you know what time it is? Allen was asleep when you told me to go get him. That's really rude, you know."

"Really? I didn't think you would have gone to bed so early, Allen." the Supervisor said. The look on Lenalee's face told him that wasn't the right reaction.

"Gē Ge, it's past midnight."

"Good morning, Komui," Allen added with a sinister air.

"I know!" he insisted. "That's really early to be going to bed!"

"Look, just because you and your co-workers don't get to sleep much because of your job doesn't mean you can go throwing your high expectations on everyone else!" Lenalee said as she stamped a booted foot.

"Actually, Lenalee, I did get a few hours of sleep before you came…"

She ignored him. "You're being really inconsiderate! William probably wants to sleep too, don't you, William?"

The blonde scratched at his pony-tail. "Honestly, I'd like to get this done first so I don't have to be worrying about it. If I went to bed now, I doubt I'd be calm enough to get any sleep. So if Mr. Walker's not too mad at me for being taller than him, I'd like to get this over with now."

"Another question, Komui," Allen said. He was far less annoyed now, and more curious. "Why do I have to be here, exactly?"

Komui pushed his glasses up and straightened. "Well, as I said before, William's Innocence just bonded to him. It's a parasitic type, so I'm not exactly sure how it happened so late in his life, but it did, and we don't really have time to wait for it to activate for the first time on its own, so he needs your help to figure it out, Allen. We only have one other parasitic type host here, and he's on a mission right now, so you're it!"

"…Lucky me?"

"Yes, lucky you! I'm also hoping you'll be good friends."

"Why's that?" It was William asking this time.

"Because you're new to having Innocence and being an Exorcist," he said, pointing to William. His finger shifted to Allen as he said, "And you're new to the Order. You two are very close in age, and you have opposite life experiences. You get to help each other adjust! My normally brilliant way of setting things up, thank you, thank you…"

Lenalee rolled her eyes, but they had a fond look as she did so. "Let's go to the training ground before it gets any later."

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

"So the secret will finally be out," Komui said from a safe distance away from Allen and William. "How does a parasitic type Exorcist activate his Innocence?"

"Well… I don't really know…"

Komui's head fell when he realized it was Allen talking and not William. "Why don't you know?! You've had your Innocence all your life, you've been activating it for years, you're supposed to be the mentor here!" he said in a long rambling breath.

"I guess… I've just never really thought about it… I just think, "activate", and it does…" Allen said, staring at the ceiling. "Have you tried doing that?"

"William hasn't tried doing anything with his Innocence," Komui called from his corner. "Because he _listens_ to me when I tell him something is bad for his health!"

"I don't know why you're saying things like that to me, _Supervisor_," Allen said. "I've only been here a week and you haven't told me anything regarding my health."

"I think that was more aimed at Kanda," Lenalee piped in. "He's on the floor above us. He needs to go to bed too, come to think of it…"

"Oh," Allen said. His face darkened and he glared at the floor. "In that case, I completely understand."

"Understand what?" William asked. The blindfold was finally off his eyes, but he kept closing them, still uncomfortable with how everything looked.

"Why he'd need to say something like that," he said, still glaring. "That idiot was bleeding like crazy and he wanted to fight the Akuma in Martel, and three days later he comes back from the hospital when he should have taken months to recover."

"I knew it…" he muttered.

"So…" Komui said. "Try activating it."

"Allura jippruvaw dan (2)."

"Oh, shut up!" William put a hand on his forehead.

"Hey!" Lenalee said, angry that he would say that to her brother when he was trying to help.

"No, not you…" he said. He tried to concentrate on the word "activate" and the voices surged up to shouts, but without saying clear words. "No, stop it! Shut up! Shut up!"

"Gē Ge, what's wrong with him?"

"It's his Innocence," Komui said. He was moving, taking long strides toward William and Allen, the former who was still screaming at nothing and Allen was looking torn between backing away from the distressed boy and moving forward to comfort him. "It talks, but only to him… Allen, help him, please! Don't let him hurt himself!"

"What am I supposed to do?" Allen yelled back.

Komui didn't answer, but came up behind William and put him in a headlock to restrain him. He thrashed against it for a good thirty seconds before his knees collapsed, pulling the Supervisor down with him. Komui barely had time to slow the fall enough to prevent William from falling hard enough to bruise his legs. He loosened his grip and let it become a sort of awkward hug to comfort the boy as he cried.

"It's been a long day," Komui said softly. "I think we should all get to bed, and we'll try again tomorrow, okay?" William bit his lip, seeming to dread the idea, but nodded along with the others. "You can go to your old room for now, William. We'll assign you one near the other Exorcists tomorrow."

"I'm doing a lot tomorrow…" he muttered.

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

William thought that five mornings waking up to the Innocence and it's mutterings, the fact that he couldn't see properly, and two of his fingers being missing would be enough to be used to it, but he was wrong. The now short lived illusion that the fingers were there before he reminded himself they weren't, the glimpses of the crazy shifting world he got before he could tie his handkerchief around his face, and the nonsensical whispering he heard escalate before he told them, aloud, to stop caught him off guard as much this time as they did the first.

"Morning," his roommate, Julian, said. William had forgotten that he had one from his week away, and it concerned him because nothing like that had ever happened before.

Julian was a few centimeters shorter than William, which was always awkward in the younger boy's eyes, but the Irish nineteen year old never seemed to mind.

"You turned in pretty late last night," Julian said. "I didn't think you'd still wake up the same time as me."

"I wouldn't have, but I'm…" William trailed off as his stomach growled. Julian seemed to find that hilarious.

"I'm going to miss you, you know."

"Huh?"

"You're an Exorcist now. That means you'll get your own room in the better part of the tower," he said, almost sadly. "I'm happy for you, but it means we can't hang out any more."

"Why not? You're my only friend here, we've had a room together for years…"

"Do you think that changes anything? That you being my friend makes you any less of an Exorcist and me less of a Finder? You're not that naïve, William."

"I know I'm not!" he snapped. "Who says I want to be an Exorcist anyway? If you ask me, this sucks."

"If you didn't want to be an Exorcist, I'd have to hit you…"

"Don't!" Julian laughed again and William said, "It's not funny!"

The floor creaked as Julian crossed it to sit on William's bed. "I know. But what sucks about being an Exorcist? I know you're not religious, but I'd love to be chosen by God."

"This Innocence… it's talking… it won't shut up, especially when other people talk to me. And last night – this morning – when I tried to activate it… they were so loud it hurt."

"What's it saying now?"

A voice in an alien language piped up in William's head. Struggling to repeat it before it left his mind, he said, "Cad… cad a dhéan… dhéanann sé a rá…"

There was an awkward silence before Julian said, "That's Irish… it means "What does it say?"… your Innocence speaks Irish?" He seemed more spooked than happy.

"I think it speaks everything. I've heard Spanish a couple times that I can remember, French, I think, some Asian languages… it's hard to keep track. I can hear them individually every time someone talks…"

"So they're repeating… every time someone talks, they repeat what they've said, but in a different language?"

"Maybe…" He shook his head. "I don't want to think about it."

"Yeah… no worries though, I won't make you. That's the Supervisor's job, right?"

"Something like that…"

"Let's go get some breakfast," Julian said, suddenly back to his cheerful self. "One last time before God snaps you up, right?"

William winced at the long string of ethereal voices, Slavic this time, before standing and taking the arm his roommate offered him. He really would miss rooming with Julian; of all the people who'd seen him with the bandana after Grace, he'd just accepted it the easiest of all of them, without a single question and acting as though William had been wearing it for years.

In the cafeteria, after they'd dressed and made their way slowly down the winding staircases, they ordered breakfast – oatmeal for Julian and pancakes for William, as they did whenever they were both home – and sat a little way off from the crowds. Today, though, it wasn't enough to avoid attention.

"Hey, William!" Allen Walker said happily as he balanced several dozen plates on his arms. "You took your bandana off!" He noticed Julian and said, "Hi, I'm Allen Walker."

"Good morning, Mr. Exorcist," Julian said in an unusually stiff voice. William had rarely been on missions with his roommate, but found his personality always changed around his superiors.

"Y-Yeah…" he stammered in response to Allen's exclamation about his eyes. The plates on Allen's arms that he was currently trying to slide off appeared completely empty, but for a faint outline behind the shuffling images of foods on each, some of which he didn't recognize, but others, like fried eggs and bacon, he wished he'd thought of getting too. He looked at his own plate. The several pieces of china jutting over one another were empty, but somewhere in the figurative deck was one where the pancakes were still there.

"I would have thought you'd get more food," Allen said, unperturbed and in a muffled voice. "Can't you eat more than that?"

"I don't want to," William said shortly. "Did Komui send you here?"

Though he couldn't see the expression clearly, he was sure Allen was offended. "He said to come to the training floor after we were done, but I wanted to come over and say "hi" anyway. I'm new, so I want to meet everyone."

"Hi, then," William said, sinking his fork into the pancakes on his "empty" plate. "That's depressing…" he muttered. Allen asked him what was depressing, but he refused to answer.

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

"Come on, William!" Komui said encouragingly as the youngest Exorcist got back on his feet. It was late in the afternoon and they'd been working for two hours since they'd stopped for lunch alone. The effort of withstanding the physical stress from trying to bring out the Innocence again and again was wearing on the young teenager, and it showed. The time it took for him to recover was getting longer and longer. "The… how many times have we done this, Allen?"

"Nine so far," the white haired boy said without much enthusiasm. He was really wondering why he had to stay while William was working with his Innocence; all he was doing was standing there, showing the newcomer again and again how it was done. The minor stress and just the tediousness of it was starting to tire him out too, and he wasn't even putting that much effort into it.

"Right! The tenth time's the charm!"

"Stop saying that, it's obviously not true!" William snapped.

"All right, all right! Don't be so touchy!" Komui's demeanor changed when he sighed and said, "I wouldn't normally say something like this, but try to endure it a little longer this time, William. Don't you think it must almost be ready to finally work?"

"I don't know!" he said. He held hand to his forehead, bracing himself for the intense onslaught of babbling that came when he tried to activate the Innocence. "I'll try, okay?"

"That's all I'm asking."

_Activate_. It was less of thinking the word that made it sear up now, but just the thought of the action. The Innocence had gotten to be hyper sensitive to his "command".

"Kom ons uit…"

"Le të na nxjerrësh…"

"دعونا خارج…"

"Выпустите нас…"

"Нека да се…"

"Deixi'ns sortir…"

"Pojďme se!"

"Lad os ud!"

"Laat ons eruit!"

William groaned as the pressure in his head built up, but remained focused on the idea.

"Olgem läbi!"

"Olkaamme out!"

"Imos para fóra!"

"Lass uns raus!"

"Ας έξω!"

"תנו לנו לצאת!"

"हमें बाहर!"

"Engedj ki!"

"Láttu okkur út!"

"Mari kita keluar!"

"Lig dúinn amach!"

"私たちをしましょう!"

"밖으로 나가자!"

"Tegul mus!"

"Нека се из!"

"Mari kita keluar!"

"La oss ut!"

"اجازه دهید ما از!"

"Niech nas!"

"Vamos para fora!"

"Să ne!"

At that point was usually when William found he couldn't take any more of the voices or the stabbing sensation in his head. He bent over and put his head in his hands, trying to tense himself against the pain for a few more seconds.

"Выпустите нас!"

"Нека нам се!"

"Poďme sa!"

"Naj nas!"

"¡Déjenos salir!"

"Hebu nje!"

"Låt oss!"

"Make it stop!" William finally screamed when he felt his head really would explode. For nine tries, ten including the one during the early hours that morning, that had worked, but this time the voices kept going.

"ให้เราออก!"

"Bizi Let!"

"Випустіть нас!"

"Hãy để chúng tôi ra!"

"Gadewch i ni allan!"

"זאָל אונדז זיך!"

(3)

And then, suddenly, silence.

William opened his eyes, unable to believe that for the first time since he'd woken up in the church, there were no voices, no eerie sounds coming from inside his head, and was pleasantly surprised again when he did. The floor he was looking at still had a faint green tinge to it, but it didn't seem to be moving on him. He hear himself think, he could see without the effort making him sick. He lifted his head and grinned.

"You did it!" Komui was shouting. Allen was grinning back, his own claw active.

He tilted his head back and looked at the ceiling, still smiling giddily. "They're gone! It's finally quiet!"

"And you got your fingers back! Well… sort of anyway."

Komui had suddenly appeared at William's side and was playing with two long string-like appendages that had sprung from his cauterized knuckles. Even without his support, the things seemed to be hovering in midair.

"_What_ are those?"

"Your Innocence!" he answered cheerfully, having far too much fun for a twenty nine year old man.

"I thought it was in my eyes."

"So did I." He seemed to be taking the fact that he was wrong very well. "Well, it does look like it's still in your eyes. They've changed slightly too… which makes this very interesting!" He straightened his glasses, calming down. "It gets easier every time, so don't worry. You need to deactivate it though, before…"

William gasped in the middle of Komui's instructions, choking as his lungs suddenly couldn't take in air. His clear vision was gone and so where the two lines that had sprung from his knuckles, leaving both of them aching as much as his head. He stumbled forward before Komui could catch him again, and landed hard on his knees and right hand, coughing blood.

_XXXXXXXXXXXX_

Footnotes:

(1) - Romanized Chinese for older brother. Because Lenalee would not be saying "nii-san". So there

(2) - Maltese for "So try it", or some rough equivalent

(3) - "Let us out" or some rough equivalent in pretty much the entirety of dictionary dot com's translating capacity… in the order on the site. Can I just tell everyone how much I currently hate that site? HATE IT! I'll refrain from capsraping more. Anyway, I obviously deviated from our alphabet, but there just weren't enough that weren't being difficult and it doesn't matter so much, so I just took whatever I could get. Also, when it came to other alphabets, I also threw all punctuation rules out the window and went with English. Stop me if you can!

**Admittedly, I was a bit worried about this chapter because of all the other alphabets; I wasn't sure if it would let me do that in an English fanfiction. Thankfully, it all went well.**

**Last chance to PM me with your contest answers! The secret is revealed next chapter!**


End file.
